When the 2016 college football season reached mid-November, Alabama was No. 1 in the country and Auburn was the next-highest-ranked team from the Southeastern Conference at No. 15.
It was Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide or bust in terms of SEC teams that could legitimately vie for a berth in the four-team playoff.
This season is clearly not 2016, as the 16-member conference currently has nine ranked teams — No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 LSU, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 15 Alabama, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 21 Missouri and No. 25 Vanderbilt — that harbor postseason hopes due to the inaugural 12-team field for the College Football Playoff.
“That’s the genesis of this whole change in format,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said Wednesday on the league’s weekly Zoom call. “We used to get into late October and November, and there would only be 12 to 15 teams nationally in the discussion. Now you’ve got 30. You’re doubling it, and maybe even more. It’s just good for college football.
“It now allows the interest level and the notoriety of the game to go from coast to coast. Certainly the conferences do now. I just think it’s good for the game and keeps the interest at a high level, and it’s making each game in late October and November so much more important.”